Chapter 486: A Noble Being

486: A Noble Being (Part 1)

Fen was chosen.

He never doubted this fact. His mother had told him so. His mother, who was younger and more beautiful than anyone else.

She also said,

that he was a descendant of a forgotten royal family and Fen himself was royalty. A prince.

It had to be true. Why else would his mother say, morning, noon, and night, every single day, whether it was rain or shine?

I am royalty, you are a prince. I am royalty, you are a prince… He had heard it so often it became like a nail driven into his ears.

Of course, the people around them mocked and threw stones, but his mother never cared.

She simply said that the world was corrupted by sin, that everything was wrong and had just gone strange for a while.

Tick-tock, the time would come when a prince would appear, punish the corrupted world, and save them all. She believed it without a doubt.

She even claimed to have seen it in a dream… A prince shining brighter than anyone, followed by thirty-six great beings, countless apostles, and a great war that would mark the beginning of a new era.

‘Stop it, you crazy woman! What prince?! Stop spouting nonsense!’

Fen believed in it.

Otherwise, how could he have survived hunger, cold, violence, harsh labor, and a world even crueler than that?

How else could he, without learning a single dark magic, freely wield the mightiest branch of magic? The branch of creation?

His mother was right. He was a prince. A prince!

Wasn’t he now summoning and subduing a demon, something other Fingers couldn’t easily do?

He had prepared for decades, meticulously equipped with nails and hooks.

The demon’s floating legs, arms spread wide to the sides, and skin about to be torn apart by hooks were proof!

This was punishment. Punishment!

Punishment for a demon he summoned, who dare addressed someone else first despite being his servant!

Isn’t it strange?! Clearly, he was the prince! The great prince! The prince his mother had spoken of! Damn it! Damn it!! And yet, how could that worthless problem-solver be greeted instead of him? Isn’t there something wrong with that? So it’s like—

—Spin!

Fen watched as the demon bound by chains and torture devices he had crafted turned its head 180 degrees to look behind.

Just moments ago, it couldn’t even properly resist, merely being pierced and captured.

It was the expected outcome. Fen had used almost all the children’s souls he had gathered over decades.

Such materials could easily overpower not just the ignorant Flesh Cook, but even the cunning Puppet or possibly the Pied Piper. Even that monster.

The ritual requirements were strict, but the outcome was just as absolute.

But something felt off. Despite thorough preparations, despite receiving wisdom from the demon, the demon before him right now seemed far too calm.

It even calmly burned the Holy Knight to save the problem-solver while looking back at him with a 180-degree turned head. Unforgivable.

‘I am the prince… I am the prince…’ Fen murmured, though his voice was soft, it carried an evilness that surpassed any shout. Because he was the prince. If, by any chance, he wasn’t the prince—

‘—Aaaaaaaaaagh!! Don’t ignore me!!’

Fen screamed, blood spilling from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. His obsession allowed him to ignore pain that even adults would find hard to endure.

‘I am your prince! Obey me! Kneel before me!!’

Clatter… Clang!!

The chains and hooks that had the demon bound from all sides tightened and pulled the distracted demon.

The demon’s body, scorched and burning like firewood, looked like it was about to be torn to pieces.

No matter how much of a demon it was, once it had descended into this world, it was bound by this world’s laws. Moreover, although it had been summoned with a physical presence, it was merely a faint replica compared to its true form.

He could definitely subdue it. He was certain. He had purposely summoned it in this form so that he could easily overpower it.

‘Apologize to the prince.’

A voice echoed from all directions, addressing Fen. It felt like it was striking directly at his brain.

The demon turned its head back following the direction of the voice.

Crack.

The sound of the demon’s neck turning 360 degrees was unsettling, but Fan’s lips curled into a smile.

It referred to him as a prince. The demon had said it. Yes, he was a prince. A prince. A prince…

‘Thanks to you, I was able to meet him. Give your greetings, sooty prince.’

Fen froze. What did that demon just say?

‘Would you prefer another title? How about Broomstick Prince? Or Prince with Testicular Cancer? Or Prince with Skin Cancer?’

Fen’s eyes shook, and his breath became ragged.

The demon hadn’t cast any particular spell. It had simply used its tongue, its specialty, to slightly stir up memories from Fan’s past.

Those horrifying memories he didn’t want to recall.

With a little help from the darkness, the effect was doubled.

‘Come on, worship him! Here’s the prince! The prince with a broomstick, the sooty prince!’

‘Kekekekek!’

‘A prince? That snake oil salesman? Kekekekeke!’

‘Kekeke! I’m losing it! Belly laughing here!’

‘Nah! Nah! Let’s fashion a crown using that useless broom! He’ll look like a real prince then!!’

‘It suits him! Suits him well! He’s truly a prince!’

‘Kekekekekekeke! Ah, I swear, this is killing me!’

‘Hey! Strip down the prince’s pants. Who wants to see the wart underneath that fool’s balls? Anyone?’

‘Let’s see! Let’s see!’

‘Pull his pants down! Hold his arms!’

‘He’s crying! He’s crying!’

Though Fen should have had control over the darkness, a part of it sprang out of nowhere, taking the form of a child and surrounding him as it jeered.

The shadows formed into the shape of children, small and cruel.

Fen’s turbulent emotions indirectly communicated this. As if his heart had been slashed thousands of times, he couldn’t regain his composure.

‘Let us worship our prince! The prince with a wart under his balls, that wretched tuberculosis patient—’

‘—Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!’

Fen screamed, tears streaming down his face as he shattered the shadowy children that surrounded him.

Primal rage, humiliation, sadness, pain, hatred, self-loathing.

It was no less than what Oliver felt when he pierced Gretel’s heart right in front of the Flesh Cook.

Fen cried tears of blood, his mouth spewing saliva mixed with blood as he howled like a beast.

‘Shadow—!! Absorb them all!! I don’t need worship! I don’t need acknowledgment! Just absorb them!!’

Fen said this as he extracted large quantities of souls with both hands, supporting his creature.

Fen, now one with the darkness, commanded his shadow to use the hellish energy infused in the darkness to pull at the nails and chain hooks binding the demon, attempting to rip its body apart and devour it.

This was Fan’s goal.

The power of dark magic could increase infinitely depending on the materials used. If he could go beyond human souls and incorporate the soul and body of a demon, he could create an invincible creature.

He had planned to first prove that he was truly a prince, and show how it was an honor to be used as his material, but now it no longer mattered. None of it mattered anymore.

‘Tear apart!!!’

Fen screamed in anger as darkness tried to tear the demon apart.

It ripped too easily, leaving him with no despair or exhilaration. All he felt was emptiness, an overwhelming difference in class.

‘Huh…?’

Fen let out a dumbfounded noise. It had been ages since he’d made a sound like this.

But that was the natural result.

One of the demon’s titles was the King of Fire and Darkness.

Fen’s control over the darkness had only been possible because the demon allowed it.

To prove it, the darkness in Fen’s grasp slipped away from his control, spitting out his own shadow as though nothing had happened.

‘······!’

The shadow, spat out like it was chewed-up gum, was torn all over, with burnt marks everywhere, likely because of the demon.

But still, it silently screamed as it rushed towards the demon.

It was unusual. An exceptional creature, according to dark magic, should prioritize the hierarchy of power and survival. But Fan’s shadow acted differently.

‘You have given so many blessings.’

The demon spoke as it was stabbed in the chest with the dagger that Fen’s shadow wielded. A fatal wound. Yet, the one in shock was the shadow itself. It was stuck.

Fen’s shadow tried to withdraw its hand to escape but was unable to. It struggled, but nothing worked. To make matters worse, its master, Fen, sat on the floor in a daze.

A master who had lost all will to fight, yet a creature that refused to abandon its master and tried to protect him.

Even those with just a bit of understanding of creation-based dark magic would faint in shock at this sight. Indeed, they could say it was a blessing from the demon.

‘I shall grant my own blessings.’

The demon said as it pointed to its burnt finger, still impaled in its chest.

A slight, yet noticeable, red glow ignited at the tip of the dried finger like the spark of a match, with a small trail of smoke rising.

Fen’s shadow, screaming silently with its non-existent mouth, tried desperately to flee, but it couldn’t escape. In the end, the smoking finger touched its forehead.

Sssssssss….

A tiny, almost imperceptible sound. Fan’s shadow convulsed as it was finally able to return to its master.

Now alone, Fen muttered with half-empty eyes.

‘I, I’m… I’m a prince. A prince… If not, then why… The demon saved me… gave me power…’

In shock, Fen mumbled incoherently. His empty eyes and turbulent emotions made it unclear if he was talking to himself or the demon.

The demon looked down at Fen and said something, though it seemed like it did.

No sound could be heard, so it was just a guess from the way Fen looked at the demon and glanced at Oliver.

Fen’s eyes, once again gleaming with greed. The demon twitched its finger, and Fen was swallowed up by the darkness and disappeared. No one knew where he went, but unlike the Holy Knight earlier, he seemed to be unharmed.

Once Fen disappeared, silence fell again as the darkness closed in from all sides.

Oliver looked around, just in case, but still could not tell where the exit was.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure if this place was connected to the abandoned mine tunnel. Somehow, it just didn’t feel like it.

Step. Step. Step.

The demon turned and began to approach. As it closed in, bringing the only light in this darkness, the surroundings brightened, but at the same time, the pressure intensified.

It felt like enormous lead blocks were being added, one by one.

‘What is your name?’

When the demon was close enough, Oliver suddenly asked for its name.

‘I was taught that it’s polite to ask for a name before starting a conversation.’

‘…What is your name?’

‘…Oliver. In Randa, I go by Dave Light, and in the Tower of Magic, I’m known as Xenon Bright. Normally, one should introduce themselves before asking for another’s name, so I apologize for being rude.’

Oliver spoke skillfully despite the intense burning pain in his right arm. It hurt so much that he felt like he would lose consciousness any moment, and cold sweat dripped from his body. But his instincts told him to stay alert. If he didn’t, he would regret it.

‘What is your name?’

[…What do they call you?]

‘I’ve heard you referred to as Inequality, Destruction, Uselessness, King of Fire and Darkness, or an Unruly Preacher. Could I address you like that?’

[…Most of those titles are correct.]

‘…?’

[Inequality, Destruction, Uselessness, King of Fire and Darkness, the one who brings light to the darkness. They are all names people use to describe me. But I find the title of Unruly Preacher unpleasant.]

Oliver instinctively activated the Warlock’s Eye and immediately stopped from the excruciating pain that followed. It was like looking at the sun with the naked eye.

‘Apologies. It was reflex… But why do you dislike that title?’

Oliver asked, half out of curiosity and half with the intent of buying time. For some reason, he knew he should delay.

[Why should I like being called unruly?]

‘…Oh.’

Oliver thought about it and realized it made sense. It was so obvious that he even questioned why he had asked in the first place.

Was it because he was dealing with a demon? That line of thinking was definitely prejudiced.

‘I apologize… So, what is your name?’

Oliver apologized and asked again. The demon remained silent for a moment before answering.

[…I am now called The One Who Burns. A Noble Being.]